Les Africains, sont-ils heureux ? « Retour au rire » en temps de guerre, de famine et de misère

Kohnert, Dirk (2022): Les Africains, sont-ils heureux ? « Retour au rire » en temps de guerre, de famine et de misère.

Abstract

ABSTRACT & RÉSUMÉ : Happiness is a universal state of mind. However, its meaning takes on culture-specific forms, ranging from emotional states of mind to life satisfaction. The definition of 'happiness' is strongly influenced by the respective philosophical background and material living conditions and is shaped by linguistic differences. Even within countries, location and social structure are important in the conceptualization and measurement of wellbeing. Exceptions prove the rule. In Laura Bohannan’s classic anthropological study of the Tiv in the Nigerian Middle Belt in the 1950s, the ‘return to laughter’ signified the laughter of despair, e.g. when people laughed at human misery given omnipresent witchcraft. Another exemption of the rule is related to COVID-19 lockdowns that were associated with a drop in satisfaction, regardless of country-specific characteristics or the type and duration of the lockdown. In Sub-Saharan Africa both the level of happiness and the level of income have shown increasing tendencies in recent decades. However, trends in inequality between indicators of income and happiness can diverge significantly. In general, happiness does not automatically increase with increasing income but lags behind. As shown by the economy of happiness, this paradox does not appear to occur in countries like South Africa, the most unequal country in the world. The country registered growing equality of happiness despite rising income inequality. Obviously, the absolute impact of income and happiness inequality at the country level is more important than the relative impact. Hence, happiness inequality, in general, can be a useful supplementary measure of inequality, particularly in Africa, which is considered a 'black spot' when it comes to happiness research. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RÉSUMÉ : Le bonheur est un état d'esprit universel. Cependant, sa signification prend des formes spécifiques à la culture, allant des états d'esprit émotionnels à la satisfaction générale de la vie. La définition du « bonheur » est fortement influencée par le contexte philosophique et les conditions de vie matérielles respectives et est façonnée par les différences linguistiques. Même au sein des pays, la localisation et la structure sociale sont importantes dans la conceptualisation et la mesure du bien-être. Les exceptions confirment la règle. Dans l’étude anthropologique classique de Laura Bohannan sur les Tiv du Middle Belt nigériane dans les années 1950, le « retour au rire » signifiait le rire du désespoir, p. ex. quand les gens se moquaient de la misère humaine face à la sorcellerie omniprésente. Une autre exemption de la règle est liée aux confinements liés au COVID-19 qui ont été associés à une baisse de la satisfaction, indépendamment des caractéristiques spécifiques au pays ou du type et de la durée du confinement. En Afrique subsaharienne, tant le niveau de bonheur que le niveau de revenu ont montré des tendances à la hausse au cours des dernières décennies. Cependant, les tendances de l'évolution de l'inégalité entre les indicateurs de revenu et de bonheur peuvent diverger considérablement. En général, le bonheur n'augmente pas automatiquement avec l'augmentation des revenus, mais reste à la traîne. Ce paradoxe, comme le montre l'économie du bonheur, ne semble pas se produire dans des pays comme l'Afrique du Sud, l'un des pays les plus inégalitaires au monde. Le pays a enregistré une égalité croissante de bonheur malgré la hausse des inégalités de revenus. De toute évidence, l'impact absolu des inégalités de revenu et de bonheur au niveau national est plus important que l'impact relatif. Par conséquent, l'inégalité du bonheur en général peut être une mesure supplémentaire utile de l'inégalité, en particulier en Afrique, qui est considérée comme une « tache noir » en matière de recherche sur le bonheur.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• English Title: Are Africans happy? 'Return to laughter' in times of war, famine and misery
• Language: French
• Keywords: Afrique, Afrique subsaharienne, bonheur, philosophie, économie du bonheur, Rapport mondial sur le bonheur, paradoxe d'Easterlin, religion en Afrique, inégalités sociale, inégalités de revenu, classe sociale, pauvreté, famine, Afrique du Sud, Nigéria, Ghana
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D0 - General > D01 - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles; D - Microeconomics > D1 - Household Behavior and Family Economics > D11 - Consumer Economics: Theory; D - Microeconomics > D3 - Distribution > D31 - Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions; D - Microeconomics > D6 - Welfare Economics > D64 - Altruism ; Philanthropy; D - Microeconomics > D8 - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty > D87 - Neuroeconomics; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E2 - Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy > E26 - Informal Economy ; Underground Economy; F - International Economics > F5 - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy > F54 - Colonialism ; Imperialism ; Postcolonialism; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I14 - Health and Inequality; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education and Research Institutions > I24 - Education and Inequality; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty > I32 - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J17 - Value of Life ; Forgone Income; N - Economic History > N1 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics ; Industrial Structure ; Growth ; Fluctuations > N17 - Africa ; Oceania; N - Economic History > N3 - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy > N37 - Africa ; Oceania; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O15 - Human Resources ; Human Development ; Income Distribution ; Migration; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O17 - Formal and Informal Sectors ; Shadow Economy ; Institutional Arrangements; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O5 - Economywide Country Studies > O55 - Africa; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z13 - Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology ; Social and Economic Stratification

References

Abiola, Olajide (2017): 2017: Nigeria review through cartoons. 30 December 2017

Adeleke Gabriel, A. & Teliat A. A. Sule (2020): Causal nexus among fiscal policy, economic growth and income inequality in Sub-Saharan African countries (1995-2016). African Journal of Economic Review, vol. 8 (1), pp. 1-25

Adesanya A. O. et al. (2017): Socioeconomic differential in self-assessment of health and happiness in 5 African countries: Finding from World Value Survey. PLoS ONE

Adigun, Abiodun O. & O. V. Sadibo (2019): Foreign Direct Investment and Income Distribution in Nigeria. International Journal of Innovative Research in Social Science and Strategic Management Techniques, vol. 6 (1), November 2019, pp. 180-189

Agbo, A.A. & T. C. Nzeadibe & C.K. Ajaero (2012): Happiness in Nigeria: A socio-cultural analysis. In: Selin, H., Davey, G. (eds): Happiness across cultures. Science across cultures: the history of non-Western science, vol 6. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2700-7_20

Awosola, Rasaq Kayode & Idemudia Erhabor Sunday (2021): Development and psychometrics evaluation of the happiness scale for Africans. Educational Research Quarterly, vol. 45 (1), pp. 3-27

Ayerakwa, Hayford M. & Robert D. Osei & Isaac Osei-Akoto (2015): Poverty and happiness: An examination of the factors influencing happiness among the extreme poor in rural Ghana. WIDER Working Paper No. 2015/034

Babalola, Afe (2018): Rising state of poverty and the Nigerian attitude to giving. Vanguard, Nigeria, 26 December 2018

Babatunde, M. A. (2018): Foreign direct investment and income inequality in Nigeria. International Journal of Economic Development, 2018; ResearchGate

Bohannan, Laura (pen name Elenore Smith Bowen) (1964): Return to laughter: An anthropological novel. Anchor Books Edition, p. 320 reprint of 1st ed., 1954, New York: Harper and Brothers, pp. 276

Bookwalter, Jeffrey T. (2012): Living the good life: An economic view of happiness in South Africa. In: Selin, H. & G. Davey (2012): Happiness across cultures: Views of happiness and quality of life in non-Western cultures. Springer: Science Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Science, vol. 6, pp. 328-344

Bouffard, Léandre & Micheline Dubé (2017): Inégalite de revenus et bonheur autour du monde. Journal Revue québécoise de psychologie , vol. 38 (1), pp. 129–157

Bruni, Luigino & Flavio Comim & Maurizio Pugno (eds.)(2008): Capabilities and Happiness. Oxford Univ. Press, 2008, pp. 9-10

Clark, Andrew E. (2018): Four decades of the economics of happiness: Where next? Income and Wealth, vol. 64 (2), pp. 245-269

Clark, Andrew E. & Paul Frijters & Michael A. Shields (2008): Relative income, happiness, and utility: An explanation for the Easterlin Paradox and other puzzles. Journal of Economic Literature, vol. 46 (1), pp. 95-144

Cooke, Edgar & Sarah Hague & Andy McKay (2016): The Ghana poverty and inequality report 2016. UNICEF, 2016

Crigler, Robin K. (2018): No Laughing Matter? Humour and the performance of South Africa, South African Theatre Journal, vol. 31 (2), pp. 155-171 Eden Foundation, Sweden, 1994:1: Desertification - a threat to the Sahel, August 1994

Easterlin, Richard A. & Kelsey J. O’Connor (2020): The Easterlin Paradox. Bonn: IZA Institute of Labour Economics, IZA Discussion Paper, No. 13923, December 2020

Greyling, Talita &Stephanie Rossouw &Tamanna Adhikari (2021): A tale of three countries: what is the relationship between COVID-19, lockdown and happiness? South African Journal of Economics, vol. 89 (1) pp. 25-43

Hinks, T. & C. Gruen (2007): What is the structure of South African happiness equations? Evidence from quality of life surveys. Social Indicators Research, vol. 82, pp. 311–336

Joubert, Marina & Herman Wasserman (2020): Spikey blobs with evil grins: understanding portrayals of the coronavirus in South African newspaper cartoons in relation to the public communication of science. Journal of Science Communication, 19(7), A08; republished on ResearchGate.

Kangmennaang, Joseph & Susan J. Elliott (2019): ‘Wellbeing is shown in our appearance, the food we eat, what we wear, and what we buy’: Embodying wellbeing in Ghana. Health and Place, vol. 55, pp. 177-187 (January 2019)

Kangmennaanga, Joseph & Bryan Smale & Susan J. Elliott (2019): ‘When you think your neighbour's cooking pot is better than yours’: A mixed-methods exploration of inequality and wellbeing in Ghana. Social Science & Medicine, vol. 242, December 2019

Kohnert, Dirk (2020): The impact of Brexit on Africa in times of the Corona Crisis: The case of South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. MPRA-paper, No. 101240

Kohnert, Dirk (2003): Witchcraft and transnational social spaces: witchcraft violence, reconciliation and development in South Africa‟s transition process. Journal of Modern African Studies, vol. 41, Nr. 2, pp. 217-245

Kohnert, Dirk (2000): Informalität als Normalität - Zur Verflechtung von Parallelwirtschaft und Gesellschaft in Afrika. Paper, invited for the conference „Afrika Works?!‟, Goethe-Forum, München, 21–22 Nov. 2000

Kollamparambil, U. (2020): Happiness, happiness inequality and income dynamics in South Africa. Journal of Happiness Studies, vol. 21, pp. 201–222

Lotfi, Tabatabaei & Mir Hossein (2016): Poverty, stress, and happiness: Examining the moderating role of psychological capital on the relation between poverty and happiness among farmers and fish farmers in Ghana. M.A. thesis, McMaster University

Mayah, Emmanuel & Chiara Mariotti & Evelyn Mere & Celestine Okwudili Odo (2017): Inequality in Nigeria - Exploring the drivers. OXFAM, International, May 2017

McLaughlin, Abraham & Christian Allen Purefoy (2005): Hunger is spreading in Africa. Christian Science Monitor, August 1, 2005

Medina, Leandro & Andrew W Jonelis & Mehmet Cangul (2017): The informal economy in Sub-Saharan Africa: Size and determinants. Washington D.C.: IMF WP/17/156, July 10, 2017

Möckl, Sybille (2014): Frohes Amerika, trauriges Afrika - In diesen Ländern wohnen die glücklichsten Menschen. Focus, 18 September 2014

Møller, V. & H. Dickow, & M. Harris (1999): South Africa's ''Rainbow People'', national pride and happiness. Social Indicators Research, vol. 47, pp. 245–280

Møller, V. (2013): South African quality of life trends over three decades, 1980–2010. Social Indicators Research, vol. 113, pp. 915–940

Molla, Gashaw Getaye (2021): Human Capital and Income Inequality Linkage in Sub- Saharan Africa: Panel Data Analysis (1984–2016). Journal of Developing Economies, Vol. 6 (2), pp. 186-200

Nwosa, Philip Ifeakachukwu (2019): Income inequality and economic growth in Nigeria: Implication for economic dvelopment. Acta Universitatis Danubius. Œconomica, 2019, No. 1, pp. 108-116

Nwosa, Philip I. (2020): Globalisation, economic growth and income inequality in Nigeria. Indian Journal of Human Development, vol 14 (2), pp. 202-212

Ogbeide, Evelyn N.O. & David O. Agu (2015): Poverty and income inequality in Nigeria: any causality? Asian economic and financial review, vol. 5 (3), pp. 439-452

Olukotun, Deji (2011): The work of South African cartoonist Zapiro. PEN America, 14 December 2011.

Percival, V (1995): Correlation or causation? Environmental scarcity and violent conflict; the case studies of South Africa and Rwanda. M.A. thesis, Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University

Pflug, J. (2009): Folk theories of happiness: A cross-cultural comparison of conceptions of happiness in Germany and South Africa. Social Indicators Research, vol. 92, No. 2, pp. 551–563

Plaut, Martin (2020): South Africa: inequality has increased dramatically under the ANC – World Bank. Martin Plaut, Blog, 2 October 2016

Sen, Amartya (2008): The economics of happiness and capability. In: Bruni, Luigino & Flavio Comim & Maurizio Pugno (eds.): Capabilities and Happiness. Oxford Univ. Press, 2008, pp. 9-10

Sguazzin, Antony (2021): South Africa wealth gap unchanged since apartheid, says World Inequality Lab. New YorK: Time, Bloomberg, 5 August 2021

Steiner, L., Leinert, L., Frey, B.S. (2020). Economics, religion and happiness. Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensethik, vol. 11(1), pp. 9-24

Swart, Sandra (2009): "The terrible laughter of the Afrikaner"- Towards a social history of humor. Journal of Social History 42(4), pp. 889-917

World Happiness Report – 2021, United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Editors: John F. Helliwell, Richard Layard, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Lara B. Aknin, and Shun Wang